Woman!

Photo by Dani Mac Photography

For Mother’s Day, I honor all women, even those who aren’t mothers in the traditional sense of the word. I wrote this Poem a couple years ago as I struggled with my womanhood and my femininity and tried to sort through the cultural demands and confusions that surround being a woman. I hope you enjoy these words. 

Woman!

 

Straighten out your blouse

 

You are so much more

 

Than an impeccable house

 

Your worth isn’t wrapped up

 

In a flawless complexion

 

Woman!

 

Don’t let the world determine your direction

 

Because it only accepts perfection

 

Because it only demands attraction

 

Woman!

 

Don’t give this world the satisfaction!

 

You are not just a body with an accidental brain

 

You are equal, but unique

 

And that is not the same!

 

Woman! Stop trying to be a man

 

You were created to give life!

 

Your body to form another soul

 

And then thrust it forth into the light!

 

Don’t take that privilege carelessly

 

For no man can claim that honor

 

Every child needs to have a mother

 

You don’t need to strive to be the father.

 

And don’t believe the lie that if you’re barren

 

You’re a failure

 

Because maybe your womb won’t carry a child

 

But you still have His favor!

 

Woman!

 

Put away that mirror for a minute and listen well

 

Vanity, frivolity, quantity over quality

 

Churned out by the mercenary participants of the polity

 

They want you to be a feminist

 

But they say feminine is a dirty word

 

They think it’s weak

 

Emotional and incompetent

 

But maybe that’s all they’ve ever heard

 

Woman!

 

Don’t let your heart be governed by a serpent in the grass

 

Find a worthy gentleman

 

With some grace

 

And compassion

 

And class

 

Know that your value isn’t found

 

Only in your purity

 

And delight in the knowledge that God made you

 

A fully sexually passionate being

 

Woman!

 

You are made in His image

 

And designed for His glory

 

Given as a partner to the one you’d grow to love

 

Your life is a miraculous story

 

Woman!

 

Fight the narrative that you aren’t strong

 

That you aren’t wise

 

That you don’t belong

 

For Deborah was a woman

 

And a prophet

 

And a judge

 

And God used Rahab

 

Also, a woman

 

No matter who she was

 

For Esther was a woman

 

And an emancipator of her people

 

And God used Hannah

 

A once barren woman

 

To raise a prophet

 

Who’d choose a king

 

And Miriam was a woman

 

Who put the lives of her brothers first

 

And Priscilla was a woman

 

Who led the early church

 

For Mary was a woman

 

And the mother of our Savior

 

And when God made woman

 

He said that “it was good”

 

The moment He first saw her.

 

Woman!

 

You came from the side of a man

 

Not from his feet so you’re his subordinate

 

Not from his head so you’re the dominate

 

But from underneath the protection of his arm

 

To hold closely

 

Love dearly

 

To protect from malicious harm

 

Woman!

 

God chose your body

 

There is a purpose for your life

 

Woman! Be who you were born to be

 

It is in you whom He delights.

 

This work is copyrighted by Danielle McEntee and not intended for personal use, without permission of the author.